Not ‘a saint’: Look back at Jon Bon Jovi and wife Dorothea Hurley’s ups and downs
It’s his life.
Jon Bon Jovi, 62, is a rare rocker who doesn’t have a lothario reputation, as he’s been married to his high school sweetheart, Dorothea Hurley, for 34 years.
But, in an interview published on Sunday, he told the Independent, that he hasn’t been “a saint” all these decades.
“These are all the wonderful clichés of rock stardom. It’s about never lying about having been a saint, but not being a fool enough to f – – k up the home life, either.”
He told the outlet that their long marriage is in part thanks to her “tolerance” when he strayed.
Here’s everything to know about the couple.
When they got married
The “You Give Love a Bad Name” singer met his wife when they were both students attending Sayreville War Memorial High School in New Jersey.
“She let me cheat off her in history,” he told People in 2020. “I was immediately drawn to her from the minute I saw her and that never changed.”
During a visit to the Howard Stern Show in 2023, Hurley said, “I remember somebody told me a story and then I said, ‘Well, my boyfriend’s gonna be a rock star,’ and they were like, ‘Good luck with that.’ “
However, their path wasn’t smooth all along. They broke up in 1985, and during that time, Bon Jovi dated actress Diane Lane for five months, as Lane said on “Watch What Happens Live.” After that, he got back together with Hurley.
They eloped at the Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas in 1989 – three years after he rose to global fame with the band’s breakout album, 1986’s “Slippery When Wet.”
“We had the No. 1 album, the No. 1 single, and we were playing three nights at the Forum in LA,” he told Men’s Health in 2010.
“I turned to Dorothea and said, ‘I got an idea. Why don’t we go right now?’ She said, ‘You’re out of your mind.’ I said, ‘Come on. What’s better than this, right now, this moment?’ And so we ran off to Las Vegas. Didn’t tell a soul.”
He also later told the Mirror, “It was like Harry Styles or Justin Timberlake getting married. I was that to the young girls in my time. When I came back from Vegas my manager was furious. He was like, ‘America’s boy is now married … that’s not a good career move.’ The record company was also despondent.”
When they had kids
Between 1993 and 2004, the couple welcomed four children: Sons Jesse, 29, Jake, 21, and Romeo, 20, and daughter Stephanie, 30.
Similar to his dad, Jake Bongiovi also found love at a young age with “Stranger Things” star Millie Bobby Brown, 20. The young couple got engaged in April 2023.
Notable marriage quotes
In 2007, Bon Jovi told Best Life Magazine, “I don’t look at this week’s hot starlet and think about trading in or trading up. I don’t have a mistress on the side or another family across town. You’re never going to read that story about me. I have no regard for that whole lifestyle.”
He added, “It’s a shallow pool, man. When you’ve been at it this long, you know it’s a real shallow pool.”
In November 2016, Hurley, told People, “Somehow it works. I think because we grow at the same rate. We grew equally and not in opposite directions.”
He chimed in, saying, “She’s the glue … I’m the crazy visionary with all kinds of things flying, and the seams are all splitting. She’s the one following me with the glue and the thread and needle, keeping it all together.”
“We really like each other. We want to hang out,” Bon Jovi further told the outlet in 2020.
“I always said I was good at spotting potential too. I have a gift,” Dorothea said.
He told the Independent that he attributes their lasting love to, “A mutual admiration society, and being lucky enough to have grown up together.”
Bon Jovi famously addressed his alleged affairs on the road in his 1993 hit single, “Bed of Roses.”
In it, he sings, “Now as you close your eyes / Know I’ll be thinking about you / While my mistress she calls me / To stand in her spotlight again / Tonight I won’t be alone / But you know that don’t mean I’m not lonely / I’ve got nothing to prove / For it’s you that I’d die to defend.”
Bon Jovi will be featured in the docuseries “Thank You Goodnight,” premiering Friday, April 26 on Hulu.
